SHILLONG, March 7: The United Democratic Party (UDP) on Sunday fired salvos at the BJP for taking the country on the path of destruction with its ‘one nation, one religion, one language’ rhetoric.
The UDP and BJP are constituents of the National People’s Party-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government.
Senior UDP leader, Bindo M. Lanong said the BJP would one day demolish the strong pillars of democracy that Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders of a new India had erected.
He said the BJP was brazenly going about with its agenda of homogenisation.
“The signs became clear when in February the Uttar Pradesh government passed a Bill in the Assembly curbing religious conversion in the state. Earlier, the Supreme Court reportedly said that Dalits who convert will be deprived of their minority rights and status,” he said.
Lanong advocated debates over such vital issues of law to avoid possible litigations on the accepted principle of sub-silentio (in silence) orders.
He said Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (AITC) retaining West Bengal would go with the wish of many in India wary of the BJP. He said the AITC won 211 seats in 2016 while the BJP managed three in a House of 294.
“Even if the BJP were to get 10 times the number of seats won last time, it will scramble to somewhere around 30 seats. The BJP, some experts feel, will struggle to win the bronze medal (third spot),” he observed.